They spent many happy years together, despite the hardships
that befell the land. The Plague hit hard in her twenty-seventh
year, wiping out seven-tenths of the barony in which they lived.
Cael worked his healing powers unto exhaustion making certain that
Isabel and all the servants maintained their health, and then
insisted that they all go out and tend the sick and assist in the
disposal of the dead. Isabel leapt to the challenge, taking twenty
sick children into the keep and tending to them herself. The house
staff mainly tended their own family members and friends, but there
was no question within the city of Crystal Port that the Morningstar
Keep seemed to radiate with Divine influence. It seemed that anyone
that a member of the house tended to recovered, and the surviving
members of the council proclaimed it a miracle that their city had
lost fewer per capita than any other in the barony. But now Cael
was faced with a new problem; three of the children that had come
into Isabel's care were now orphans. He had seen the longing in her
eyes as the rest were returned to their families, and he knew it was
just a matter of time until she forced the issue.
It wasn't a moon after the last cured child returned to his
family that she made her move. It was well past the witching hour
as she silently crept into Cael's chambers and slipped quietly
beneath his blankets. Snuggling close to him, she began to unbutton
his nightshirt and kissed his neck softly. He sighed, snuggling
closer to her, then, realizing what was happening, sat bolt-upright
and looked at her, eyes widened. "Just what exactly do you think
you're doing, Bella!?" he exclaimed, drawing his knees to his
chest. "You know we can't do this!" His face turned crimson when
he noticed that she was clothed with nothing more than her long
chestnut hair, starlight and a smile. She crept catlike toward him
and brushed her fingertips lightly over his knees, wrapping her arms
around his neck and looking intently into his eyes. "It's simple,
my love", she said in a low tone, "I want children." The crimson
was quickly replaced with pallor in Cael's face as the gravity of
her words sunk in. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked at
her, his face full of anguish, then spoke in a voice laden with
sadness. "You know that I cannot give you children, Bella. I'm
sorry…" She interrupted him, her words rushing from her, "Then let
me keep the three that remain here! They've no place else to go!
Elise is only six moons old, Charlotte has started calling
me `mommie' and Llew could use some fatherly guidance from you."
Biting her lip, she looked at him pleadingly, and he began to
chuckle. The chuckle turned into a roaring laugh and he rolled
around on the bed, unable to control both his relief and amusement.
Still giggling, he sat up and hugged her tightly, kissing her
forehead, and then said through little bursts of laughter, "You went
to all that trouble just to ask me if you could adopt them? My
love, you know you have me wrapped around your little finger; all
you needed to do was ask, and I would have said yes in an instant."
Smiling up at him coyly, she forcefully unbuttoned another button,
and said in that same low tone, "Not entirely. I know it was
probably wrong of me to try to force myself on you, but I do want
you and I'm tired of being away from you at night. Even though I
can't have you, could I at least stay with you?" He pondered this
for what seemed like ages before replying to her. "You know I feel
the same way, darling. I'll let you stay with me under one
condition; that you don't pull any more stunts like this, all
right?" She smiled lovingly at him and curled up with her back
toward him. Sighing, he lay back down, curling around her and
placing one arm under her head and draping the other over her
waist. Closing his eyes, he took in the sweet scent of her hair,
inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly. After a long silence, he
whispered to her, "You know, you're very beautiful, my Bella."
Smiling, she snuggled closer and whispered a reply before drifting
off to sleep; "You're quite beautiful yourself, my darling Cael."
The next morning, they started setting up three of the empty
chambers for the children to live in permanently. Isabel readied a
room next to the one she and Cael now shared for Elise, the
youngest, but insisted that her crib be kept in their room for the
time being because she was so young. Cael made a place for Llew
just down the hall from them, in the second largest chamber, because
he was the oldest child at the ripe old age of six summers. He was
a bright and energetic child, with strawberry blonde hair and eyes
the color of the water at Crystal Bay. Excitedly, he helped Cael
set up the place, ecstatic that he now had his own room, and a
family to boot. Isabel had rescued him from the local orphanage,
after the sisters caring for the children (as well as most of the
children themselves) had died of The Plague. He had never known a
real family, and ever since he had started recovering from his
illness, Isabel had seen the look of hope in his eyes when she
talked about them all possibly living there. Charlotte, the middle
child, wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but she knew it was
good and she ran excitedly from Llew's chambers to Elise's, dragging
her doll behind her and squealing with delight. Finishing with
Llew's chambers, Cael began to set up Charlotte's right next to
Llew's. When Isabel finished with Elise's she came to help, and by
nightfall all three children were settled in their new home.
They shared many good times as a family while the children
were growing up. They would go on horseback rides together and have
picnics down by the stream. Cael found great amusement in teaching
them how to swim in the lake, and Isabel in playing hide-and-seek
with them. Together, they taught them how to read and write and
care for themselves, and how to sew (Cael insisted that Llew
especially learn this skill so that he didn't fall into the ranks
of `useless men' in the world) and how to tend the roses. Cael felt
that he had to be the happiest man in the world at that time,
because he had a family whom he cherished above all others and who
loved him just as much. It made his heart soar when he saw Isabel
as happy as she was then; for her happiness alone he would have done
anything. He would have stopped time if it had been in his power so
that those happy years would last forever. But time marches on, and
the children seemed to grow up in the blink of an eye, and with
their growth, Isabel began to age. This frightened Cael more than
anything else could.
